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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 31, 1909)
How a man who, as a boy, gave no promise of a head for business, has formed the first great, fin ancial group with headquarters west of Aileghames 7 L ill : :i AV. Y ill rT-Fv-l 1H' " 'MK' r Br i ' v F ill - CaMqi iC V-xy UK v- vlnl ttl So .. M Xv-W lll UP--' sM FY E J EDWAKD5. T1,1RTY-NLNE year ago. a little boy of years, whose parents had Just moved their home from Milwaukee to Chicago, that the head of It might hire a larger field for his rapidly-growing grain and pork-packing business, was told, half Jokingly, half seriously, by his father that he should nave been a girl he certainly had never been cut out for a successful busi ness career. Delicate In appearance, because he was delicate In health, this boy. who 'had beard the same remark many times 'before, and who was destined to hear ' It many times more In the years ahead, loved nothing so much as to be able to steal away to some quiet corner, with ia book as his only companion. There he would be happy and content by the hour. Never a day-dream of business conquest, such as he knew his father 'had constantly in mind and was mag nificently accomplishing, flitted through I his growing brain. His thoughts, his ambitions, for the future were all of .'books, of writing them, of himself be- I coming a great woMd figure In lltera ; ture. And because the son thus cared ' passionately for that to which th father gave scarcely a passing thought, and because, in addition. the son seemed to the father not to have the sort of constitution which foreshad owed physical ability to give and take in the rough-and-tumble of business life, the boy was told time and again by bis forebear that he should have been born a gtrL Today the man Into which this deli cate. bok-lovlng youngster of the "70s has grown Is being hailed as the pre dominant financier of the West. In 'Wall street the leaders there are say ing of him that he Is the first man In the financial history of the country to form and maintain a financial group of great International power and ram Ideations, with headquarters west of the Alleghanlea. Perhapa only those who are Intimate ly acquainted with the history of American finance can realize ful'e what a feat this la that Jonathan Ogden Ar mour has lately accomplished. But It Is even more remarkable that-he has been able to bring about this epochal change la our financial leadership In less than a decade. It took a full de cade lor E- H. Ilarrlman . to do his trick, and Commodore Vander-bllt the same length of time to accomplish his. Eight years ago It was that Jona 'than Ogden Armour's hard-headed and ' far-seeing old father laid down his life, and the son In whom the father had neen able to see no latent business ability succeeded to the head of the great Armour interests. Not one, but two, deaths placed him In this power ful seat. Not he, but hla brother. Phil ip D.. bad been picked originally by the father to become the head of the ' business. Philip IX. Jr.. was the heir ', apparent; Jonathan Ogden Armour, be , causa of his taste for things literary i and his apparent distaste for things ' business, was merely the heir presump- tive. It was an arrangement In which I the father doubtleaa took not a little -pride; but when death claimed his : namesake there was nothing left for . the founder of the Armour fortunes to do but what he could to prepare Jona than Ogden to succeed him. In time thia son the father's "Hob son's choice" In the way of an heir, so to speak took up the reins let fall by his sire- From that day until recently the general public heard of him as a rich mans son succeeding to a great estate; aa an operator, on a gtgantla scale. In the wheat pit; aa an alleged crass of fender against certain Federal anti-trust laws: and as the father of little Lollta Armour. In whoso remarkable cure by the celebrated Dr. Lorenx the whole - world took a deep and sympathetic Inter est. But until a few short weeks ago the general public had not dreamed that Jonathan Ogden Armour had the stuff in htm. apparently, to make of himself a great financial leader a distinction that has to be earned, since it can In no way be handed down from father to son. Mr. Armour's Important Discovery. It Is beyond dispute that Mr. Armour has more than won his financial spurs. Soon, according to high financial author ities, he will be looked upon almost uni versally as the commanding financial and financing authority, the great National figure, in undertakings of this kind In the mid-West. Already he Is In close finan cial association with many of the world's financial captains both in this country and In Europe. If. aa now seems cer tain, ha becomes the great financial .au thority of the mid-West, his association with the men who make the historic moves on the money board of the world will be that of the greatest Intimacy. Jonathan 0dcn, Axmour was just 28 y r 4- years' of site when he found himself in the place of supreme authority amid the great Armour interests. Then it was presumed that the young man would oc cupy himself chiefly with maintaining and conserving these Interests. It was observed, however, early In his first su preme direction that he did not 'permit himself to be mail.' the slave and drudge of detail. He had lenrned. possibly by studying his father and possibly by oth er observations, that" there is no more killing drudger than that which is rep resented by slave-like devotion to minor details. " The senior Armour, probably because he had to begin In a small way and watch every expenditure, nurse every market, reckon the minutest cost. . had accustomed himself to detail. Of course. In his later years, he organised a superb group of lieutenants and subordinates, but he seemed to be never quite willing to leave to them the detail work. Possibly the first striking demonstra tion of the lurking ability for the very hlRh conntructive work which Ogden Ar mour made after he assumed command was the ease with which he committed to trust subordinates the working ottt of details while he controlled the greater operations. . In that way his mind was free from the petty Irritations and dis tractions which toe . excessive detail causes, and he had opportunity for more profound contemplation and study of new and very great questions, some of which had never disturbed his father, because they had not arisen. So. too. at this time, if what Mr. Ar mour's friends say be accurate, he re vealed a power of broad, comprehensive forecasting In the direction of finance. Throughout all of his father's business life, the movement of the crops from the harvest fields to the markets Involved the borrowing of many millions of dol lars in the great financial centers east of the Allegheny Mountains. This move ment was as accurately timed, almost, as is that of the Autumnal equinox. Ogden Armour, whils' carefully scrutinising the financial reports that told of the move ments of money In the banks of CM ckko. St. Ixuls. Kansas City and New Vork, Philadelphia anit Boston, detected TIIE STXDAT 7 X. what he thought to be good proof that the West was beginning to market its crops with Its own monoy. This discov ery he made almost simultaneously with a like one madn by the late Frederick D. Tappan. of New York City, who was for many years president of the New York Clearlng-House Association. Air. Armour was about 40 years of age when he believed he was able to detect the Itrst change in what was the leading annual money movement In the country, lie clung to this belief in spite of the cyn icism and skepticism with which many re ceived the report that the West was be ginning to finance Its crops, and how ac curate was his Judirment subsequent events fully proved. This year the West is harvesting and marketing Its crops practically with its own money, although much of this money has been drawn from the Eastern banks where In the Spring It was placed on deposit, so that It might earn good Interest. Parting of the W'ttjs. Up to and through the Government's celebrated pure food Inquiry Into the beef packing Industry, Mr. Armour's time was1 taken up largely with proving his capacity for leadership over the very great Indus trial interests which came to him from his father. But how there began other very important undertakings in Chicago, the center of Mr. Armour's packing activ itiesrailway transportation, the perfect suhurbanizlng of traffic that centers in Chicago, so that there could be convenient and economic concentration of It; and. In addition, there loomed up before Mr. Armour the great question of providing for the future of the beef supplies of the United States. Here came the parting of the ways for Mr. Armour. He could withdraw from larger activities and concentrate, his en ergies wholly upon the direction of the beef packing interests, or he could step out and beyond that industrial circle, al though he must have known that this would Involve placing him In the ranks of ttje world's great financiers. To do that also mails necessary- the coy plug around OREG03TAX, PORTLAND, WESTERN r AND i A ut .uiuj Htm ' ,n V' him, or grouping with him, of some of the master minds of the West, as well as co-operation with some ,of tlie larger financiers of the East. In other werds, there came to .Mr. Armour the opportu nity to become iduntltied with the world's greatest financing and financiers. He apparently did not hesitate, although those who know him best are of the opinion that if he had been perfectly froa to choose, he would have preferred a life of quiet dignity, not exactly of ease or leisure, but one In which he would have had no business responsibilities other than those directly connected with the manage ment of .his beef packing Interests. In Chicago the men who do things shortly began to talk of Mr. Armour as a man who possessed greater credit than he did money, although the fortune that came to him in actual money, or its equivalent, was hith up in the millions. You see. It is credit, chletly, upon which great financing and great financiers rely. Early In Mr. Armour s development as a financial force his path and that taken by the late E. H. Harriman crossed. They met as equals to exploit and undertake the construction of( what Is known as the Chicago freight tunnel system an under ground belt line planned'to connect all the railway freight stations of Chicago and the principal shippers and receivers of freight, for facilitation in the handling of freight originating or termlnatingin the city.' This undertaking involved not mere ly money Investments of some $5,000,000 or I6.00u.000, but the utilization of the Joint credit of Mr. Harriman and Mr. Armour to the extent of some J14.00o.0O0 more. At the present writing the undertaking seems to be In some embarrassment, but It Is the understanding that' Mr, Armour Is de termined that It shall succeed. Thia linking of certain Harriman In terests with those of Mr. Armour's was the first certain Indication that the East had of the coming of a new financial leader In the West. "Harriman never associates himself with any one who can not do big things In a big way." was the way the situation was summed up in many quarters. Of course, once he had embarked on his financial career. Mr. Armour found It necessary to take unto himself asso ciates, and gradually there came into be ing what is now undoubtedly the strong est financing group with headquarters 'west of the AlleghaIes. It is only within a year or - two that Eastern men of finance have recognized the power of this group and have realized that It must be reckoned with In many of the greater financial undertakings that are to char acterize the present era of prosperity. This is the cause, for the very good reason that the financial power and re sources of the 'Armour group compare favorably with those of any one of the greater groups of the East. Everything considered, Mr. - Armour's OCTOBER 31. 1909. n S ill Ml;jlJt cw. v w s&ft r- chief financial associate, is undoubtedly George M. Reynolds. When President-elect Taft was look ing about him to find out who, among Americans of ability, possessed in the hlehest degree all of the qualificatlons needed for a successful administration of the Treasury Department, he made some inquiries in New York City. il was told, first of all. although It was not necessary to tell him that, that It would never do to appoint a Wall street banker or financier Secretary of the Treasury. Political considerations would make that Inexpedient. ' "Where shall I find Just the man? the President-elect asked a New York friend. "Personally. I think Chicago will furnish the man I am looking for." "Yes," was the reply, "there are two or three men in Chicago who have Just the qualifications you want. One of them Is George M. Reynolds." Mr. Taft was told that Mr. Reynolds was of Western birth and training; that he understood perfectly the political sen timent prevailing in the Central West; that he had been brought In close touch with the farmers; that he was in Inti mate association, as a banker, with 3. Ogden Armour. "What kind or a man is he person ally?" Mr. Taft finally asked. He was told that Mr. Reynolds could properly be characterized as a typical man of the West, with a very broad National vista. "His energy Is unbounded," con tinued Mr. Taffs informant. "He speaks straight from his heart. Sometimes it is thought that he is a little rough In his ways. ' Some folks have said that he has not had time to cultivate some of the conventions which are regarded as Im portant by men of leisurely life. Per haps, as far as social polish goes, he should- be called a Tough diamond.' But he understands finance and banking from the alphabet up. and he was one .of the most valued of the informal advisers of secretaries of the Treasury In McKln ley's and in Roosevelt's administrations." As a result of this talk, and further consideration of Mr. Reynolds' qualifica tions for the Treasuryship. Mr. Taft offered the post to Mr. Reynolds. Just at this time, however, Mr. Armour and his associates were planning certain financing which, they hoped, would dem onstrate to the world that the West, a last, was to be of equal authority with the East In the great financial undertak ings of the future. Mr. Reynolds was deep In this work. and. largely for this reason, he felt called upon to refuse the honor offered him by the President-elect. In order that there may be partici pation in great financial undertakings, there must be. In addition to vast cred it, enormous resources. Mr. Armour earnestly advocated the consolidation of the Continental Bank of Chicago, of which. Mx. Reynolds, .was president, and FINANCICFL LICU TENANTS- V ':':;i. ' 4 jzz&z&s'je ojr jrz&r "h fl ft PTI FT another institution. At tilia't time, Mr. Armour was a frequent visitor to New York, and was in friendly association with the greatest of American banks, the National City. Already one of the greatest of the Intellectual forces as sociated with the Armours. P. A. Val entine, had entered the directorate of this bank. In the financial district In New York It does not need many hints to form a Judgment, and so it was in ferred that if Mr. Armour. Mr. Rey nolds and other men of capital were planning to crSate the greatest finan cial Institution west of the Allegha- nies, they were also planning to act In co-operation with the greatest Na tional bank in the United States. The Armour Associates. The bank consolidation desired by Mr. Armour was perfected. Mr. Rey nolds became president of an institu tion which commands some JSO.000,000 of resources, approximately a like amount of deposit, and sits at the head of the table around which such men of high authority as John C. Black, William C. Selpp, one of America's great capitalists; the richest lumber man in the world, F. E. Weyerhaeuser, and J. Ogden Armour, keep him com pany. And until recently one of the most brilliant of the younger men of' the West, at least in the world of finance and affairs. Samuel McRoberts, also sat at that table. This Is the original group of which Mr. Armour Is really center a group controlling, Individually and collective ly, hundreds of millions of resources of capital, and none can estimate the amount of credit. Add to It the names of P. A. Valentine and L. C. .Kranthoff, and the list of Mr. Armour's leading lieutenants In his large undertaking Is complete. Wherever lumber is king, Mr. Weyer hauser, the richest, the most eccentric and probably the shrewdest of all Mr. Armour's closest associates, is known. In the packing Industry the name of P. A. Valentine Is almost as familiar as Is that of Armour. The elder Ar mour raised Mr. Valentine ,in a business way, and Mr. Valentine has more than repaid the debt by giving the business many golden ideas. It was Mr. Valen tine who, when J. Ogden Armour was confronted with the problem of provid ing for a. beef supply In that future when this country will eat more beef than It can raise, took a steamer to the Argentine Republic and tnere made arrangements insuring to the Armour packing-houses a practically unlimited supply of beef. ' Just as the elder A r mouc. placed, implicit trust in Mr. Val- to rely on him greatly, and has him J 1 J' " Ml Jin 1 SMj stationed in New York as guardian of many of the Armour interests. In New York, too, Mr. Atinour has recently placed another member of his cabinet for larger things. This Is I C. Kranthoff. formerly Attorney-General of Missouri. For a time general counsel fop the Armours, M Kranthoff has established himself in the metropo lis as general counsel and adviser from the legal side of those larser interests Mr. Armour Is now undertaking. ' Lieutenant Samuel McRoberts. Working in the same building as Mr. Kranthon is another of the Armour cabinet. Samuel McRoberts. This young man the youngest of all Mr. Armour's associates seems to be especially fa vored of Mr. Armour, whose influence with the directors of tltc country's largest bank, with deposits of $:iflO.0O0. 000, recently led to theip election f ' Mr. McRoberts as vice-president. Before he took this position he was the Aimour treasurer, a most impor tant post. He was, also president of the Chicago Freight Tunnel Company,. in which Mr. Armour is now the chief figure, with Mr. Harriman in his grave. It was Mr. McRoberts, who has a legal training, who mapped out tha defense that defeated the Government in Its recent suits against the Armours as a part of the beef trust. As treasurer of the Armour Company Mr. McRoberts assisted materially In the financing and marketing of some thirty millions of securities of the company so swiftly that the securities were over-subscribed by millions. And he Is still on the sunny side of middle life. Born in Missouri, and of sturdy Scotch parentage, Mr. McRoberts is practically a self-made man. as are most of Mr, Armour's associates, in striking contrast to their chief. Also Mr. McRoberts has a college educa tion; while Mr. Armour was taken out of college by his father and placed In the packing business. But while at college McRoberts did not keep his nose constantly in his books. Ho took a healthy part In athletics, and. in fact was the student who introauced football at Washburn College, Topeka. Kan., which college, of course, now proclaims that he is one of Its distin guished sons. Later on, when hq had begun to make his place in the world, Mr. McRoberts, recalling his football days, and especially the difficulty the students had In getting- proper Instruc tion, sent a coa,ch down to Washburn a loyal act that Is talked about to this day on the college campus. In fact, the coach that "Sam" McRoberts sent has bc-ome a sort of college tradition. Mr. McRoberts entered the umploy Concluded on Page 0.x r